Darel Stark
Violin
Darel Stark started playing the violin at age six. Since his debut at age seven, he has performed in over a dozen countries on three continents including performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Weill Recital Hall. He is presently Associate Principal Second Violin of the Honolulu Symphony and Concertmaster of the Bach Chamber Orchestra. At age nineteen he joined the Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra as its youngest member. An active chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist with many orchestras, he can be heard on LCH Records, CBS Masterworks, and SONY Classical. His recording of John Carollo's Frenetic Unfoldings for solo violin is available on Musica Baudino at www.john-carollo.com.
Born in New York City, Mr. Stark studied violin with Nicole DiCecco, Lazar Gosman and Berl Senofsky. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. His many accolades include prizes at the Michelangelo Abbado International Competition in Italy and the Tibor Varga International Competition in Switzerland, a TIME Magazine College Achievement Award, two Friedberg Prizes in chamber music from Peabody, and prizes from over a dozen local and national competitions.
From a New York critic, “ The highlight of the evening was Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Stark playing exquisite and brilliant.” From another performance, “Stark played Beethoven’s Concerto flawlessly, beautifully and passionately.”..."an excellent violinist who displayed thorough technical mastery and a persuasive sensitivity to detail." Another New York paper wrote, “Stark exhibited the mastery of the almost inhuman gymnastics of technique (Paganini’s Concerto No. 1)…showed real soul in the lyrical sections (and) a technique that was rock-solid.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “commands extraordinary virtuosity”…“his technique was rock-solid”…"fat and juicy tone quality“..."bolstered by a thorough understanding of the music’s style.” On his return to St. Louis, “He attacked head-on Ernst’s Variations on ‘The Last Rose of Summer’...it is hard to imagine anyone handling the triple stops, double harmonics and simultaneously bowed and pizzicato passages any more accurately...he was always on pitch.” From a performance in Denmark, “Particularly noteworthy was Stark’s gripping performance of Coble’s Soliloquy (1985) for solo violin...played with the greatest conviction and flair.”-The Strad Magazine
From a concerto performance with the Honolulu Symphony. The Honolulu Advertiser- “William Schuman’s mid-century violin concerto is an intimidating work, enormously difficult, powerful,...an excellent concerto, and it displayed violinist Darel Stark’s impressive technique. (He) ripped through multiple stops and sailed through lyric passages, earning enthusiastic applause from an audience peppered with adoring students.” The Honolulu Star-Bulletin- “Stark interpreted its complex rhythms with suitable intensity and seriousness. (His) rhythmic precision and accuracy of intonation carried the day."
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